Heat Stressed Cows Produce Less Milk Due to Leaky Gut, New Study Finds

A new Cornell study has demonstrated the connection between heat stress and gut permeability, which describes the porosity of the gut. According to co-author Prof. Joe McFadden, dairy cattle biology, the study is the first to directly investigate the connection as well as propose a solution through dietary shifts. 

Can the Future of Farming be Organic?

Equipped with hand sanitizer and face masks, I began my fifty-mile bike ride to interview Klaas Martens, an organic farmer from Penn Yan, New York. On the way, I saw a “For Sale” sign outside a small complex called Freedom Village. I got barked at by too many guard dogs and I conquered obnoxiously long, steep hills that made my thighs scream. I passed by miles upon miles of corn fields. Corn is a major New York crop with 1 million acres planted yearly.

Food Ethics | The New Cash Cow: How Solar Can Save Dairy Farms

Borden Dairy Co., one of America’s oldest and largest dairy companies, on January 6, became the second major milk producer to file for bankruptcy in the last three months after Dean Foods, America’s largest milk producer, filed for bankruptcy in November. Borden Dairy says that tumbling milk consumption combined with the rising price of milk crippled them with debt. In addition to these two large bankruptcies in the dairy industry, more than 2,700 small-and-mid-size family dairy farms went out of business last year and 94,000 have stopped producing milk since 1992. Consumption has been dropping steadily, with overall sales falling by 13% in the last decade. It seems that many Americans are moving on from cow milk.